This website uses both first-party and third-party cookies to enhance security, provide personalized content, track user activity, and display relevant advertisements based on your interests. You agree to the usage of our cookies, as outlined in our cookie policy, by using the website going forward.
What are cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies?
Typically, there are two types of tracking technologies we might use on our website:
1. Cookies: They’re actually a small data file sent from a server to your web browser or mobile device that is stored on your browser cache or mobile device. There are ways you can control your cookies preferences and set whether you want to accept or reject cookies (see what your options are below).
2. Clear gifs, web beacons, web bugs: These are tiny graphics with a unique identifier similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the movements of web users between pages and websites. Unlike cookies, which are cached on a user’s computer, clear gifs, web beacons and web bugs are embedded invisibly on web pages and are about the size of a single pixel.
We utilize cookies, pixels, local storage, other technologies and apps, both internal (of our own) and external (of third parties).
What is cookies ?
Cookies are small files placed on your computer as you browse the web or use a web-enabled app. We use cookies to operate our services, discover how people use our services, understand how to make them work better and more. See below for more examples of how we use cookies.
What is pixels?
Pixels are small amounts of code placed on a web page, in a web-enabled app, or an email. We use pixels, some of which we provide to advertisers to place on their web properties, to learn whether you've interacted with specific web or email content; as many services do. This helps us measure and improve our services and personalize your experience, including the ads and content you see.
Why do we use local storage?
We use local storage to save data on your computer or mobile device. We use data from local storage to turn on web navigation, maintain video player preferences, customize what we show you based on your past interactions with our services, remember your preferences, and measure ad effectiveness. We may also use local storage on other websites, where necessary to provide you certain features, to obtain information about your visits to those sites.
How cookies are used on WhereWeChat
On WhereWeChat, cookies and related technologies like pixels and local storage give you a quicker, more secure, and better experience. Our services, which include our websites, applications, APIs, pixels, embeds, and email correspondence, are also run by cookies. WhereWeChat specifically makes use of these technologies to:
- Keep you logged in to WhereWeChat.
- Deliver features and functionality of WhereWeChat services.
- Save and honor your preferences.
- Personalize the content you see.
- Protect you against spam and abuse.
- Show you more relevant ads.
- Provide subscription features and distribute certain content.
- Understand how you interact with our services and where we can improve.
- Measure the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing.
- Rate how our services perform and identify bugs and other quality issues.
- Gather data used to operate our business, from measuring our audience size to enforcing the WhereWeChat Rules and Regulations.
Why do our services use these technologies?
- The WhereWeChat Products;
- Products provided by other members of the WhereWeChat Company; and
- Websites and apps provided by other companies that use the WhereWeChat Products, including companies that incorporate WhereWeChat technologies into their websites and apps. WhereWeChat uses cookies and receives information when you visit those sites and apps, including device information and information about your activity, without any further action from you. This occurs whether or not you have a WhereWeChat account or are logged in.
Cookies purposes
Cookies are also used by us for the following purposes:
- To speed up loading of pages.
- To recognize you the next time you visit our Service. As a result, the information, which you have earlier entered in certain fields on the Service may automatically appear the next time when you use our Service.
- To recognise and count the number of visitors, to know which pages are the most and least popular, and to see how visitors move around our Products and Services when they are using it. As a result, we will be able to improve the way our product and Service works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
- To make our Product, Service and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests.
- To measure advertising performance.
- To prevent fraudulent activity and improve security.
- To personalize the content of the Service.
- To analyze performance of the Service and fix bugs.
Cookies, pixels, and local storage work to operate and support our business, and to help provide you with an improved experience. They're also used across the following categories:
- Authentication and security
- Functionality
- User preferences
- Analytics
- Research and development
- Personalized content
- Advertising
- Marketing
- Personalization across devices
Within each of these categories, cookies, pixels and local storage help us:
Authentication and security
Authenticate your WhereWeChat access to show you relevant content. They also help prevent unauthorized parties from accessing your account. We use these technologies to:
- Log you in to WhereWeChat, and our products and services.
- Help protect your security, and the security of our products and services.
- Let you view content with limited distribution.
- Help us detect and fight spam, abuse, and other activities that break the WhereWeChat Rules.
Functionality
Deliver error messages, allow you to switch between accounts, coordinate our service across tabs in a browser, and provide certain features on partner websites.
User preferences
Remember information about your browser and your preferences.
Browser and device settings
Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version. You can however obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via these links:
The detailed instructions on how to control your cookies through browser setting can also be found here: https://www.aboutcookies.org/how-to-control-cookies/.
Please note that blocking all cookies will have a negative impact upon the usability of many services. If you block cookies, you will not be able to use all the features of our Products and Services.
To opt out of data usage by Google Analytics follow instructions: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.
To reset your device identifier or opt-out of personalized advertising, follow Google instructions or Apple instructions.
2. Opt-out of internet-based advertising
The third-party advertisers, ad agencies and vendors with which we work with, may be members of the Network Advertising Initiative, the Digital Advertising Alliance Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising, the European Digital Advertising Alliance. To opt-out of interest-based advertising from the participating companies, visit the following links:
- Network Advertising Initiative – http://optout.networkadvertising.org/
- Digital Advertising Alliance – http://optout.aboutads.info/
- Digital Advertising Alliance (Canada) – http://youradchoices.ca/choices
- Digital Advertising Alliance (EU) – http://www.youronlinechoices.com/
- DAA AppChoices page – http://www.aboutads.info/appchoices
Analytics
- To improve and understand how people use our services, including buttons and widgets.
- To optimize your experience by understanding how you interact with our services, like when and how often you use them and what links you visit, and from where. (We may use Google Analytics to help us with this.)
- To count the number of people who have seen a particular post, embedded posts, buttons, or timeline. Learn more.
Research and development
- To gather data about how you use our services, including how our services perform. This helps us detect issues, understand where we may improve, or develop new products or services.
- Test updates to WhereWeChat services, as well as build new features, functionality, and services.
Personalized content
Personalize our services in areas like trends, stories, ads, and suggestions for people to follow with more relevant content. We also use:
- Local storage to tell us which parts of your WhereWeChat timeline you've viewed already so that we can show you new content.
- Cookies to suggest who you might enjoy following based on your visits to websites with integrated WhereWeChat services.
Advertising
Personalize ads and measure performance, like showing you ads and evaluating their effectiveness based on your visits to our ad partners' websites. This helps advertisers provide you with high-quality ads and content that may be more interesting to you. We'll also:
- Deliver ads, measure their performance, and make them more relevant to you based on criteria, like your activity on WhereWeChat and visits to our ad partners' websites.
- Work with third-party advertising partners, including Google, to market our services.
Marketing
Deliver our email and web marketing campaigns and to understand our marketing effectiveness.
Personalization across devices
Understand which devices you used so that we can personalize your experience on all of your devices.
Keep in mind, if you ever log in to WhereWeChat with your device, we associate and will continue to associate that device with your account. This means whether or not you're logged in, we'll receive information about your device(s) when information is shared by a partner, when you visit wherewechat.com or third-party websites that integrate WhereWeChat services, or you visit a WhereWeChat advertiser's website or mobile application. Most commonly, IP addresses and the time we receive the data, are used to link that specific device with you.
Where are these technologies used?
We (along with third parties) use these technologies on WhereWeChat products and services: which includes our websites, applications, and on other websites, applications; and services that have integrated with WhereWeChat services, including third-party properties that incorporate our advertising technology. This includes our ad partners’ websites and sites that use our embeds, including embedded timelines. Third parties may also use these technologies, for example, when you click on links from WhereWeChat services, view or interact with third-party content in WhereWeChat services, or visit third-party websites that incorporate our advertising technology.
What are my privacy options?
We're committed to giving you meaningful privacy options to control or limit how we, our partners, and other third-parties use cookies and cookie-related data:
WhereWeChat stores information about other websites where you've seen WhereWeChat content or accessed our services. For most WhereWeChat features you can adjust this by going to: Settings and privacy, allow use of where you see WhereWeChat content across the web. However, for certain paid subscription features, even if you make this adjustment we will still store certain information, where doing so is necessary for that feature to work. We will tell you about this storage when you sign up for these features.
If you’ve turned this off, or are in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, we won't store or use these web page visits to improve your experience in the future. However, if we've previously stored your web browsing history, we may continue to personalize your experience based on information we've already learned from that history.
You will always see ads on WhereWeChat based on your WhereWeChat activity. There are a variety of ways you can adjust the way WhereWeChat uses your data for ads. You can use the following tools:
- Personalized ads setting in WhereWeChat
Adjust your setting for use of off-WhereWeChat data by going to Settings and privacy. - Interest-based advertising for web
Opt-out in your current browser through the Digital Advertising Alliance's consumer choice tool at optout.aboutads.info. - Limit ad tracking for iOS version 13 and earlier
Turn on this setting through your iOS device settings (precise instructions vary by version). - Ads personalization for Android
Opt out through your device settings (precise instructions vary by version). - Allow apps to request to track for iOS version 14 and later
Turn off the setting through your device settings (precise instructions vary by version). - Personalize based on your inferred identity setting in WhereWeChat
Adjust the setting by going to Settings and privacy, Personalize based on your inferred identity. This controls whether we link your account to browsers or devices other than the ones you use to log into WhereWeChat (or if you're logged out, whether we link the browser or device you're currently using to any other browsers or devices). - Cookie settings through web browsers
Most browsers will request your permission to use cookies. Note that if you turn off cookies entirely, WhereWeChat services may not work correctly or you might have trouble logging into wherewechat.com.
More privacy options
Along with optout.aboutads.info, you can read more about opting out of interest-based ads at networkadvertising.org/choices. Lastly, you can opt-out of interest-based Google ads using Google's Ads Settings.
Important: To view or change web settings for your WhereWeChat account, you'll need to log in to the web browser. Changing your WhereWeChat settings in the web browser when you’re logged out will only affect behavior on that browser while you aren't logged in to WhereWeChat. Click here for more info on our privacy policy and here to control your account settings
The cookies you encounter depend on the features and functionality you use. Which we update from time to time. Cookie lifespans are capped at 13 months in certain areas.